we. can. end. hunger. now.

Our friends the Good Makers recently left for Kenya. Yesterday they sent this report over.

Everything here in Nairobi, Kenya, is brilliantly alive, the air is thick, the soil is rich, the flowers are stunning, and the people are exquisite. The Kibera slum, the largest slum in Africa, is built partly on hills, with a sewer system running down its core, in which the children seem to step in, trip over, and splash constantly. The ground is made from piles of trash and feces, with goats, chickens, and dogs roaming freely. Within that there are markets, fresh chapati, businesses, shacks selling clothing, and many more nook-and-cranny stored filled with vibrant Kenyans. The smell didn’t bother me one bit.

They are going through a HUGE famine at the moment, because of a horrible drought. However, farmers are raising enough good crops on their own, but their government is not paying the farmers enough for the crops that they can sustain the harvest, so they cannot sell them and help their hungry country, and food is rotting, and people are dying of starvation. Its solvable, its just imbalanced. This sounds exactly like another place I know…
There is a MASSIVE FOOD DISTRIBUTION problem going on on two polar opposite continents, America and Africa (not to mention the others, but I’m emphasizing these two for the moment). Each is, I must say, silly in it’s existence; both are highly solvable, but while the government hides information from it’s people, it’s people become stubborn, and, in their forgivable ignorance, seem insane and idiotic, and are draining the world of its resources, and slowly killing us.


So…
TRUTHS YOU NEED TO HEAR ABOUT THE FOOD CRISIS (and how to end it) :
-In America we waste 96 billion pounds of food per year in food waste.
What? I can’t even picture a billion, what does that mean?
-WELL, that’s a train filled to the brim with food that goes from LA to NY and BACK. Better?
Where does all that go??
-Into landfills, about the size of Oklahoma. So, in essence, we are dumping crap the size of Oklahoma into “dead zones” of the earth (places we have literally ended all forms of life), when that stuff can loop right back into the hungry in the world.
But some of the food isn’t good anymore?
-Correct! We need a few things here. First is a system of compost that is common. Just put another little bin next to your trash bin for your food (except meat) and if our neighborhoods set up compost stations, we save food and enrich soil so we can grow better food. Actually edible food. ALSO, we are currently producing MORE food than we need…primarily because of fast food restaurants, to be honest.
What do you mean?
-Every time you eat McDonalds or the like, you are not only killing yourself, you are oh so actively contributing to the slow death of our planet (again, remember, its solvable). Firstly, most of what you are eating is part cow, part chemical, part plastic…and the “cow” part of that awesome trio has been fed its own feces. Secondly, by feeding into a huge waste-maker, we are giving McDonalds market for over-over-over producing, which causes waste, and obesity. Double trouble. **NOTE, KFC can no longer be called “Kentucky Fried Chicken” because there is not enough chicken in the chicken. For serious. (See: Food, Inc.)
Don’t worry about me, I eat at whole foods.
-This one sucked for me too. I fucking love that hot bar. Whole foods (and other such markets) are one of the largest contributors in food waste (see: http://www.divethefilm.com/). They also treat their employees like crap, overstock the foods to look more filled up then throw them out early, rarely donate their food to dwindling food banks. They also don’t properly recycle (seriously, its 2011), don’t usually buy locally, and the worst part, they made us feel like our conscious buying days were over. They also date things eariler than they spoil to keep a “superfresh” image, then waste good food. LISTEN, I’m not saying don’t buy at whole foods. I’m just saying make sure everything you get is local, if that’s the position you’re in right now.
Isn’t that more expensive?
-Than eating (literally) cancerous foods from fast food places? Probably, but go bigger spectrum. As that amazing 11-year-old Birke Baehr said, “the way I see it, we can either pay the farmers, or we can pay the hospital.” Also, remember that 96 billion pounds of food waste? That leads to $136 billion per year, which is absolutely what we owe to China (and then some) and could help us get out of the life-threatening debt we are in as an economy.
Oh oh, also, 5% of that food we waste in one year CURES hunger in America.
How much time do we have?
-I don’t know. But think about it this way, if California were to for some reason be cut off from air travel, they would have approximately 2 weeks to survive before running out of food. PLANT SOMETHIN, EVERYONE!
SHIT, MAN.
I know, right? Wait, keep the faith!
So why don’t we do anything about it?
-WEEELLLLL it’s in our restaurants and markets, often, and also in our choices. **NOTE there is a LOT that the government is doing that is sneaky and destructive, but I’m into solutions.
Guess what!! Here’s what you can do!!! (taken from DIVE! friends and my brain)
Here’s the deal: markets are overflowing with wasted food as food banks are closing down from a lack of donated food. The loop practically closes itself, except no one is doing it. (If this silly problem interests you, email me please!)

1. Always, always save your food. If you are at a restaurant and you have not finished your meal, take it to go. If you don’t think you’ll eat it, give it to someone on the street. Otherwise, you have food for later, money in yo’ pocket.
2. Ask your grocery store what they do with their soon-to-be-expired food. Ask me if you are interested in my grand plan to end this market nonsense.
3. TEACH YOUR CHILDREN. We are empowered by what we know…teach your children and siblings abut whats ACTUALLY healthy for them, teach them how to garden, what not to eat. Take the extra couple bucks to buy them healthy food…if that’s not what you’re spending your money on…what else?
4. TEACH YOUR FRIENDS. Have cooking parties, garden together, eat out at a place that buys locally. Food should always, ALWAYS be fun and enjoyable.
5. Eat what you need, you just feel better anyway.
6. Planning on getting political about it? Figure out how to compost for your community. Talk to your local supermarkets about donating their food. If they put up a hissy fit, let them know that the Good Samaritan Act covered their asses from being sued in 1996 so they’ve had their time to adjust.
7. Plant an edible garden. Grow things. Get dirty.
8. Join the EAT TRASH Campaign to End Food Waste (ah, yes, plugging my friends).
9. Dumpster dive, if you want, saving hundreds of dollars and plenty of still good food (go behind whole foods, they just throw it out for show.) Visit http://fruganliving.com/ for inspiration.
10. Go veggie: for every 1 lb of meat wasted, we waste 7 lbs of grain that could go to ending hunger. Cut the beef as much as you can and we have more grain for more hungry folk.
11. Make leftovers: turn just about anything into an omelette, shepherd’s pie, salad, soup, or casserole.

Food is the one thing that ties us together as a species…beyond culture, religion, gender, ethnicity, and social standing, we are all humans who survive on the same kind of sustenance. We are running out of time and resources, and America is still under the impression that we have an abundant amount of food. We are running low, but we do have time. We just have to act now. And I know we can.
“The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry…. The acts of charity you do not perform are so much injustices you commit.”
— SAINT BASIL THE GREAT